Following the recommendation of the Dot Aero Council on October 16, 2003, SITA has decided that the current reservation of IATA location codes for airports will remain unchanged until February 2004. All domain name listed here are only available for registration by their respective airport authorities.

On October 16, 2003, SITA asked its industry consultation and advisory body, the Dot Aero Council (DAC), to confirm that the reservation period for airports had expired and the domain names reserved for airports should be released to all eligible members of the community for registration on a first-come first-served basis.

DAC members acknowledged that:

• the three letter airport codes are among the most frequently used codes in the aviation industry and as such their use in .aero is very important.
• in the absence of interest from airports, there are aviation entities who may wish to use these names.
• the domain management policy should remain stable and predictable.

The DAC requested more time to review the situation with their respective communities and reserved their policy recommendation until the next DAC meeting, which is to be held in February 2004. At this time it is expected that the DAC will provide SITA with a final policy recommendation regarding the reservation of airport codes. In the meantime, DAC recommended SITA to maintain the current policy unchanged. This recommendation was accepted by SITA.

For more information contact: .aero.enquiries@sita.aero